Testing capacity

Updated: October 4, 2007

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Before deploying your streaming media solution, you should perform a load test to make sure that the assembled server system can support the required content and audience and that it behaves as expected.

You can run Windows Media Load Simulator for Windows Media Services on one or more client computers to simulate any number of client connections. You can also configure the load simulator to recreate a number of client behaviors, including playing content continuously, streaming multiple-bit-rate content, browsing and seeking on-demand content, and connecting using authentication. Depending on the machine speed, each load simulator can test the upper limits of both the network and the server by loading the server with more than 1,000 simultaneous connections. You should run enough concurrent load simulations to simulate the peak load on your Windows Media server while you monitor the server to verify that no limits are exceeded.